Inspired by Gibbs, Bangladesh's Mortaza wears jersey number '0' in BPL
Mashrafe Mortaza told his initial number was 20 after which he first dropped zero and now two
(Web Desk) – Bangladeshi skipper Mashrafe Mortaza sported jersey number ‘0’ while playing a T20 game in Bangladesh Premier League (BPL).
When asked why he did so, he reasoned that he is inspired by South African hard-hitting batsman Herschelle Gibbs who used to wear jersey number ‘00’. “I was inspired by an interview of Gibbs that I read a few days back,” he added.
The Rangpur Riders captain was motivated by an interview of Gibbs after his comeback in the side and told, “There it was stated ‘start from zero again’ and honestly it was quite motivating.”
According to reports, Herschelle Gibbs used to wear the last two digits of the playing year as jersey numbers. He mostly wore the number ‘74’ which was the last digit of his birth year 1974. Only Mortaza and Gibbs are the two players from international cricket to wear the specific number.
Photo: Herschelle Gibbs in jersey number 00
Talking about his changing jersey numbers, Mortaza told in the interview that he started his career with jersey number ’20’. Later on, he changed it to just ‘2’ by omitting the last part. He joked that now it was the time to omit the first digit. “Now I am going back to the second part to complete the circle,” he stated.
Mortaza was asked about Bangladesh’s tour to South Africa where the tourists lost all games. He said, “Today is a good day, tomorrow might be a bad one. We can make sure day after tomorrow is better.”
